Make Believe
by evil-mittens
Summary: Three years after their absences, Sakura and Kakashi finally return from their intensive training to Konoha. Little did they know, surprises and a rude awakings wait for them in the near future. Eventually SakuSasu with some side pairings.
1. Chapter One

Make Believe  
Chapter one  
_by evil-mittens_

Two figures raced swiftly through the forest jumping off branches. Moon beams weaved through the leaves, leaving them a pale complexion. When they finally stopped, they were on top of a hill looking over a small village. Even in the dark, they could make out the monuments of the past Hokages. Lights sprinkled across the village, making it look magnificent.

"It really has been too long has it, senpai?" whispered the 19-year-old kunoichi.

"It has been," agreed the tall, well-built shinobi. It has been three years since they have left the village of Konoha, and four years since the split of team seven.

Suddenly, a warm gush of wind interrupted their thoughts. It seemed like a good sign. The shinobi's wispy silver hair wavered. _'Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea to come back here,'_ he thought. He looked over at his pink-haired friend. Her eyes narrowed at the sight of the village. _'I guess she doesn't think so…'_

A million of flashbacks clouded her mind. _'I knew it was a bad idea coming back here'_ she thought in frustration. Four years ago she wouldn't dare to think of leaving Konoha, but four years was a long time ago. She has mature over the years and worked hard to gain acceptance as a true shinobi from her former sensei. '_I'll show them,'_ she thought darkly. The pair slowly made their way down the hill, kicking the snow with heavy thoughts.

Silence passed between the as minutes ticked away. The copy-cat ninja took out his Icha Icha Paradise and started reading it, but all he could hear were their footsteps and the wind blowing softly in his ear. He glanced at the kunoichi in surprise, usually; she would kick him very hard in the shins, leaving him pain for days. He chucked remembering how he had to hobble around for days, his leg bruised and battered.

A soft voice broke through his thoughts, "What's so funny?"

"Oh, nothing," he lied.

"Good, we're nearing the village. Oh, and Kakashi? You might want to put away that book before I burn it." Kakashi quickly shoved his precious book into his back pocket. _'She never used that one before…'_

They reached the village gates, a voice rang out from above, "Who goes there?"

"Hatake Kakashi and Haruno Sakura," Kakashi replied in a lazy voice. There was silence; they heard a big thud and many footsteps.

"Open the gates," someone commanded. The gates opened, a group of young chuunins rushed down with a tall jounin.

"Your passes?" asked the tall jounin. Kakashi and Sakura took out their passes and showed them their passes; the jounin looked impressed.

"Inform the Godaime of their arrivals," he ordered. A chuunin quickly rushed off to the Hokage building. "You may enter," he told them. They stepped through the village gates for the first time in three years. A sudden cloud of smoke revealed the skilled chuunin and two jounins.

"The Godaime has been informed; she'll be waiting in her office." The two jounins escorted them to the office; their arrival was already spreading through out the village like a wild fire.

Somewhere in the village, a sleepy blonde was disturbed by rapid knocking at his door. He staggered to the door, but before he had a chance to open it, the visitor pushed it open, slamming him in the face. "Naruto-kun, they're back!"

Meanwhile, somebody else was else was informed of Kakashi and Sakura's return. "Sir, Hatake and Haruno have returned to the village."

"So Hatake Kakashi has finally returned. Well…" he drawled. "I think it's time to finish this game."

Sakura and Kakashi climbed up the stairs towards the office. When they finally reached the Godaime's office doors, the doors threw open and the two were engulfed in a hug.

"Tsunade-sama…" Tsunade finally let go of the pair and ushered them inside the office. Paper and books were all over the place. A big cup of coffee stood on top of the stuff on the desk.

"Sit down." The pair looked at the chairs she gestured to; paper and folders were all over them.

"Ano…"

"Just push them on the floor," Tsunade shrugged, "I'll get some genins to clean it up." Sakura and Kakashi looked eyed each other, and carefully pushed the stuff onto the floor.

"You two look well," Tsunade commented. "How did the training go?"

"Very well, I believe Sakura's ready to become a jounin," answered Kakashi. "No, scratch that, she's ready to become an ANBU," he finished firmly. Tsunade blinked several times, and looked at him blankly.

'_Stupid Kakashi, we agreed that we would tell her the ANBU thing later…' _Sakura thought in annoyance.

Tsunade raised her eyebrows in surprise, "ANBU? Isn't that a bit too soon?" She waved her arms around, "She's not even a jounin yet!" Tsunade looked at Sakura sharply. "Are you sure you're ready to become an ANBU?"

"She's ready," Kakashi said in a bored tone.

Tsunade glared at the famous one-eyed Sharingan user, "I wasn't asking **you **Kakashi."

"Yes, I am ready Tsunade-sama," answered Sakura.

Tsunade's eyebrows furrowed as she thought about this. "Fine," she finally said. "We'll put you in the next ANBU exam, Sakura. It's in two weeks, so be ready," she gave a small smile. "You'll make a great addition to our ANBU team."

"Thank you Tsuande-sama." Sakura gave a small sigh in relief. For a moment, she wasn't sure if the fifth Hokage would agree. That old fart Kakashi had to piss her off.

"Kakashi, you should learn from your pupil! She's so well behaved and you're just…"

"Kakashi?" a voice finished off Tsunade's statement.

"Exactly! You're still that lazy, always late hentai! You were supposed to return to the village 1 year ago!" Tsuande exclaimed. She looked at the door to find Maito Gai standing there with his loyal subordinate, Rock Lee by his side.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow at his 'rival'. "Gai," Kakashi said coolly.

Gai surveyed Kakashi before giving a curt nod. "Kakashi, I, the great and famous amazing shinobi Maito Gai, challenge you, Hatake Kakashi, the coward to a great battle! You will be the loser," Gai said boastingly, pointing his finger towards Kakashi. '_I swear that he's going to be the loser. If not, I'll run seventy laps around Konoha and do two hundred and ten push ups.'_ "It's time to finish this silly game," he drawled.

"You suck at acting; it's making my ears bleed." Kakashi quickly moved to the side as his furious rival tried to attack him. Gai sailed over the desk and landed face to chest with Tsunade's big chest. Tsunade looked down, her eyes narrowed until they were tiny slits. With a swift punch, Gai went sailing over the desk again and smacked into the wall next to his faithful student Lee.

"He'll be out for a few good hours." Tsunade looked at Lee and gestured to Gai. Lee's lips trembled as Tsunade glanced at him; he looked down at his beloved mentor and quietly heaved Gai outside and closed the door.

"As I was saying before I was rudely interrupted, the exam is in two weeks. Now, you two must be very tired, I'll find you a place to stay. Unfortunately your apartments have been rented out quite a long time ago, so we'll have to find you a temporarily one to stay in right now. Come, we'll see what Shizune found for you." Tsunade walked out of the door, and motioned Kakashi and Sakura to follow. They were pleased to see that Shizune found a nice apartment with two rooms, a bathroom, a kitchen and a small living room. Sadly there wasn't any furniture in it.

Tsunade rubbed her nose in annoyance, "You'll have to sleep on the floor tonight until you can buy furniture tomorrow. Here's the key, and here's the address. I'll see you here in five days at eight o'clock to overview Sakura's status. You are dismissed."

The pair walked down the winding stairs, until the reached the general floor. Suddenly a blob of sun-kiss hair flashed by and knocked Sakura down from the behind. '_What the hell…' _"SAKURA-CHAN!" Naruto gave her a tight hug and broke out into a big grin. "I can't believe you're finally back! Obaasan said you should have come back a year ago! He paused and thought for a moment, his eyebrows furrowed in worry, "Sakura-chan! Are you becoming another Kakashi?!?!"

Sakura looked at Kakashi, "I actually wasn't aware that we were supposed to return last year." Everyone turned their heads towards Kakashi. "Heh heh, I thought I told you. It must have slipped out of my mind, when we were helping that old lady in Snow Country." He scratched his head and his eyes crinkled as he gave a smile.

The pink hair Kunoichi snorted, _'it "slipped" out of his head.'_ "Naruto, how did you know we came back so fast?"

The blonde shrugged. "Everyone knows; it's spreading around the village faster than the flu can spread. I was upstairs, looking for you; did I just hear that you're gonna sleep on the floor tonight?? You can always stay with Hinata and I, we have plenty of room."

The pair of newly arrivals looked at each other. "We'll be okay; we've been sleeping in the dirt a lot for the pass three years anyways." Kakashi shrugged, "it's no big deal."

Naruto gave them a worry look, Sakura quickly changed the subject. "Where is Hinata?" She looked around, but she couldn't spot the raven haired girl anywhere.

Naruto gave them a funny look. "Ano… she's outside, she didn't want to interrupt the meeting." Kakashi and Sakura exchanged amused looks.

"Ne, let's go find her and go for ramen. I haven't eaten Konoha's famous Ichiraku ramen for three years!" exclaimed Sakura enthusiastically. Naruto looked at Sakura in shocked, wondering how she could actually not eat their ramen for so long. His expression quickly changed, "Let's go then!"

The trio walked out to find the Hyuuga heiress standing there. "Sakura-chan! K-Kakashi-san! Welcome back!" Hinata gave both Sakura and Kakashi a hug.

Naruto walked over to Hinata and gave her a quick kiss. "Let's go for ramen, they haven't eaten at Ichiraku for three whole years!"

Hinata nodded, "Naruto, you can only have three bowls."

Naruto had a shell-shocked expression, "only three?!?!"

Hinata shrugged, "that or none for the rest of the month." Naruto's mouth hung open like a gaping fish. He thought it through and finally nodded.

Sakura and Kakashi exchanged glances. '_Naruto sure changed a lot; he's a lot more mature than before.' _

Naruto kicked a pebble into a garbage can. "AHAHAHAHA! SCOREEEEE!!!" Hinata gave him an irritated look before mumbling something to herself.

Sakura shook her head, but then again, something's never change. They walked into the famous ramen bar and ordered. They ate and chatted within themselves. While waiting for Naruto to finish his third and last bowl of ramen, they were interrupted with a sudden shriek. Standing at the doorway was Sakura's long best friend Yamanaka Ino and her boyfriend Nara Shikamaru.

"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU'RE BACK!! WHY DIDN'T YOU WRITE TO ME FOREHEAD GIRL?!" Everyone backed away from the overly loud, happy girl.

"Ino, we can hear you perfectly fine, there's no need for you to break our eardrums." Shikamaru mumbled something that seemed to be "mendou kuse," and sat next to the red-eye genius.

"Excuse my **boyfriend**, he just got his PMS. So Sakura, what did you do for the last three years? Tsuande said something about training I think… but still! How could you not write to me?! I thought you were dead or something!"

Sakura laughed, "It's nice to see you too Ino." Meanwhile, as the girls talked, a certain lazy shinobi was complaining softly to the other lazy ex-ANBU.

"Jeez, how many times do I have to tell Ino not to be so loud? Women are so troublesome; I don't even know why I decided to go out with her in the first place."

Kakashi nodded in agreement, "I know, I had to live _and_ train with Sakura for three years."

Naruto spoke suddenly in a rather loud voice, "I know what you mean! Women are so bitchy when they have their PMS, they want this and that. What's the big deal anyways?" Shikamaru and Kakashi looked at Naruto in horror.

Ino advanced on Naruto; her eyes glinted, in not a good way. She raised her clasped knuckles. "Sorry Naruto-_kun, _care to repeat what you just said?"

Naruto's eyes widened as Ino, Sakura, and surprisingly an angry Hinata began to walk towards him. There was a definite POW that echoed around the small ramen booth.

Naruto groaned as his hands immediately clasped over his eyes. He gingerly patted his burning eyes. That one hit stung like hell. Naruto looked through his blurry good eye. The woman in Ichiraku nodded approvingly. Did he really say that, that loud? Naruto got up, swaying slightly to his right side and stumbled out the door; his ramen was left unfinished.

The other customers in the Ichiraku began to diminish slowly. The five were still chatting animatedly. They had a lot to catch up on.

The old man at the ramen bar wiped his hands on his apron. "The restaurant is closing now, I suggest you five to leave soon," he said with a big heave.

They slowly got up, tidying their coats and scarves. "Sakura, Kakashi, why don't you stay over at my house for a few days, until you get all the furniture in your apartment." Hinata suggested. "It can be a little sleepover or something."

"Can I come? We haven't had a sleepover since forever!" asked Ino eagerly. Shikamaru shuffled a bit, grumbling at Ino's loud voice.

"We have an important mission tomorrow Ino. We have to leave the village by three o'clock sharp. We should go home and rest."

Ino sighed in annoyance, she had forgotten about their mission tomorrow. She had such a good time. "Fine, but when we get back, you guys better have another sleepover and invite us! Shika-kun, let's go home." They said their good-bye's and walked away.

"Do they live together now? I never would have thought Shika and Ino would be an item. Ino's so… loud, and Shikamaru is just… well, he's just Shikamaru."

"Don't mind Ino's loudness Sakura-chan. She's usually not like that, she's just happy that you're back. Let's get you settled down. I don't trust Naruto-kun with the house by himself." The trio walked along the empty streets of Konoha. The streetlights gave the streets an eerie glow. It was a few minutes before they finally reached a medium size house on the outskirts of the main busy streets.

Hinata had moved out of the Hyuuga mansion right at the age of eighteen. After the departure of Sakura and Kakashi, Hinata gained the courage to talk things over with her father. They talked through things for hours, and at the end, the gained what Hinata always wanted: an understanding between the father and daughter relationship. Even if all the grudges have vanished, Hinata wanted to leave away from the Hyuuga mansion. She also discussed her relationship with Naruto with her father. It seems, after a while, Hiashi let go of the fact that Naruto has the Kyuubi in him and that he was just a normal boy; except for the fact that he's very noisy. Hinata and Naruto's boyfriend/girlfriend relationship might turn into something more.

Hinata unlocked the wooden door and let them in the flourish house. A beautiful wooden staircase winds up from the ground floor to the next. Hinata took off her shoes, put on some slippers and padded across the wooden floor.

"Naruto-kun? Where are you?"

Naruto's voice drifted out to the genkan. "In the kitchen Hinata-chan!"

"Figures," mumbled Hinata. "Come, I'll make you some tea." Hinata slipped into the hallway and slid open the fusuma and revealed the cozy kitchen. Inside, Naruto was making himself rice balls. All the bruises on Naruto have already vanished; his eyes still looked a bit tender though.

"So you did decide to stay over!" Naruto stuffed a rice ball in his mouth. "Want one?" he offered with a full mouth.

"Naruto, don't talk with your mouth full!" Hinata scolded. She walked over to the kettle and poured a few cups of hot green tea into the ceramic teacups. She took the cups and placed them on the table. "Would you like something to eat?"

Kakashi shook his head, "I'm pretty full from the ramen, but thanks anyways." They sat around the table letting the green tea warm them up. They chatted until they finished their tea. By that time, it was fairly late.

"Why don't I show you two your rooms?" Hinata suggested. "Naruto, you did clean the guest rooms up and set up the futons right?"

Naruto laughed uneasily. "Of coarse Hinata-chan! There still might be a few things lying around… I'll go pick those up right now! Why don't you show them the rest of the house first?" Naruto rushed out of the room and ran up the stairs.

"I'll show you around." Hinata walked out of the kitchen and led them to the room next to it. She slid the shoji open, inside was a wooden desk, a bookshelf full of books and some flower arrangements. "This is our office, there's not much in here."

"A lot cleaner than Tsunade's," Kakashi mumbled.

Next, they followed Hinata into the living room. It was the most beautiful room Sakura had ever seen. A low wooden coffee table was in the centre front of the room with another beautiful flower arrangement on it. Surrounding the table were two white sofas. On one end of a sofa was a beautiful end table. A bamboo lamp was sitting on it, giving off soft beams of light. A large cabinet was leaning against the far wall, every detail was carved delicately. A cherry blossom shoji screen separated the living room and the dining room. The dining room was fairly simple; it consisted of a table and a few cushions around it. A few plants and hanging scrolls scattered through out the two rooms.

"It's beautiful Hinata!"

Hinata smiled, "Arigato Sakura-chan, come I'll show you your rooms." They walked up the stairs found Naruto waiting for them.

"I want to show them their rooms Hinata-chan!" Naruto bounced into a well decorated room. "This room is for you Sakura-chan! Hinata decorated the room in a cherry blossom theme, so it's perfect for you!"

Hinata gave them a gentle smile. "Naruto-kun, could you get the futon out from the closet please?" Naruto looked down at his feet quickly, as if he were searching for answers. "Sure!"

Naruto walked slowly over to the wooden. He glanced back at Hinata nervously. Her face was passive. She knew. Naruto yanked open the wooden door. Inside, a few random objects fell out, scatter out onto the floor.

"Naruto," Hinata said in an even voice, "what did I tell you about shoving things into the closet?"

"Never shove things into the closet because it can fall out and hurt somebody." Naruto looked at the floor looking as if it was the most interesting thing. He silently picked the objects off the floor and brought them to his room.

Hinata sighed. "He never learns; that's why we have separate rooms. Kakashi-san, your room is next door. I'm afraid that it's a little plain because I didn't have time to decorate yet."

Kakashi gave a shrug. "I don't mind, I'm rather used to plain rooms. I lived in a plain apartment before we went to train a few years back," he said in a matter-of-fact voice.

Hinata brightened. '_Good, he didn't mind.' _Hinata motioned them out into the hallway. "It's just the next room down, on your left," she told them. Kakashi gave one last look around the cherry blossom decorated room and followed Hinata out the shoji door. They walked briskly down the hallway. Hinata found the light switch to the room. A light flickered on and Kakashi poked his head in.

Kakashi's eyes widened. The room wasn't as decorated as Sakura's, but it was far more decorated than his old room. Kakashi looked around the room attentively. The beige of the tatami mats gave the room a soft look. There was a vase full of blooming flowers sitting on the small side table. The room on the empty side, but it was clean.

"I actually like it," he told Hinata certainly.

A small smile escaped Hinata's lips. Everything was finally settled for a good nights sleep.

* * *

A/N: Finally got up my first Naruto fic! This isn't my first fic though; I deleted my other one because it sucked as much as my old pen name did. Anyways hope you enjoy this first chapter! Big thanks to my beta swt-angel-babi3 for all her help. 


	2. Chapter Two

Make Believe  
Chapter two  
_by evil-mittens_

A swift kick almost knocked the young woman off her feet. _'Focus,'_ she scolded at herself. She ran as quick as lightning towards her attacker and returned the kick back. She smirked, he didn't see her coming. The impact of her kick knocked him to the floor. The kunoichi used this opportunity to perform the seals to her finishing jutsu. _'…dragon, dog, tiger,' _she repeated to herself as she performed the seals.

"Tobihi no jutsu!" Fire ejected from her hands and leaped towards the fallen man. As soon as they hit him, he disappeared with a cloud of smoke. She sat down against a tree in exhaust. Eyes watched her from above.

"That was very good," he finally said breaking through the peaceful silence. The young woman leaned back against the tree and sighed. The man jumped off the branch and landed perfectly like a cat in front of her. "You're more than ready," he commented, "This environment must have done you some good. You might want to focus some more though."

'_Damn, he noticed.' _"I was—"

"Don't worry about it; just concentrate when you go against Tsunade-sama."

Sakura nodded. A three hours long match wasn't what she intended to be a "little spar." But of course, he wasn't even fighting. _'He was probably sitting up there reading one of those perverted book of his,'_ she thought darkly.

"Come, I'll treat you to ramen."

Sakura snapped her head back and gave him a curious look, "since when were you so generous?"

Kakashi laughed and ruffled her hair, "I don't know what you're talking about." He offered her a hand and hoisted her up. The two walked silently through the forest grounds. The birds watched them as they passed and sang their melodic songs. Sunlight was seeking through the leaves and branches of the tall trees as they finally reached the edge of the forest.

The silence was broken when the two reached the forest's edge. Sakura felt a heavy hand on her head; she cocked her head to the side to see Kakashi. The silvery-hair man crinkled his eyes and smiled, "You've grown up well, Sakura."

* * *

Sakura rubbed her sleepy emerald eyes and stretched the sleepiness out. _'It's good to sleep in a bed again,'_ she sighed as she pushed her down duvet aside and stood up. She shivered as her bare toes touched the cold, smooth hardwood floor. She crept quietly to the bathroom and closed the door behind her. She looked into the elegant mirror, _'Today's the day.'_ She brushed her teeth and washed up swiftly and hurried out the apartment she and Kakashi shared.

The air was moist and fresh and birds chirped their happy morning songs. The sun has risen just above the Hokage monument, but the heat was already beating down. The pink-hair woman walked through the forest mindlessly until she found a small waterfall. Her eyes clouded over as she remembered the distant memories of her childhood. She remembered when she would come here and cry after _he _rejected her.

_Uchiha Sasuke_

She laughed silently, _'I can't even say that bastard's name.'_ Her eyes narrowed as she recalled the harsh words he had said to her. Her pink head shook furiously. She wasn't supposed to come out here to think of _him_ out of all people. She got up off the bolder she was sitting on and walked away from the place that held her painful memories. True to her name, a single pink cherry blossom drifted from a sakura blossom tree and fluttered to the ground.

Sakura walked back to the town slowly, wasting her time. By this time, the marketplace was busy with people scurrying doing their errands. Sakura blew her bangs out of her face, _'why is it so damn hot today?' _She suddenly felt a familiar charka behind her.

"Haruno."

Sakura smiled at the person standing behind her, "Hyuuga."

"You didn't come to see me," he answered, talking to her back.

The pink-hair woman finally turned around and looked at him. "I've only came back a week, Neji."

"That's not a very good excuse. Even so, that never stopped you from visiting me before." Neji snorted, "Oh wait, that's right, I haven't seen you for three years."

Sakura laughed and smiled sheepishly, "Gomen ne Neji-**sama**, next time I'll make sure to see you first."

The Byakugan user fought the urge to roll his eyes, "Tenten wants to see you, why don't you come over for lunch?"

"I can't, I have to prove that I can take the role of an ANBU to Tsunade-sama at noon."

Neji raised his eyebrows, "You're becoming an ANBU?"

Sakura gave him an evil look, "What's wrong with that?"

"Nothing… are you sure you can handle it? It's a pretty tough job. Tenten hates it when I'm always on missions."

"I'm a big girl now Neji, I can handle it fine."

Neji still didn't look convince. Sakura sighed, "You know what? Let's have a little spar; I need to warm up anyways."

He gave a stiff nod. The pair walked a nearby field and looked at each other.

"Should we start?" Neji asked, breaking the silence.

"Ready when you are."

Neji smirked and suddenly vanished from Sakura's view. Sakura didn't flinch; she simply stood there and quickly turned around to block an incoming hit.

"Neji-san, you must do better than that to beat me," Sakura taunted.

"You talk big for someone so short," Neji teased. He quickly changed his plans and jumped back.

"Byakugan!"

"Cheater," the petit kunoichi muttered.

Neji raced back towards Sakura and threw several kunais and a kunai wrapped with an explosive note at her. _'Right on target, five vital spots.'_ After Neji started to go with Tenten, Tenten demanded that she teach him to aim better. She claimed that "he sucked at target aiming" and needed some training. The smoke was overwhelming. Neji let out a cough; his eyes stung and he turned off his Byakugan. _'Damn all this smoke, I can't see anything.' _As the smoke cleared slowly, he barely made out the vacant spot in the middle. _'Shit,'_ he swore silently. He looked around and turned on his special bloodline eyes again. _'Fuck, she can be anywhere by now.'_

"Bet you can't catch me," a voice taunted beside his ear. Neji quickly turned around, but saw nothing.

"Up here." The dark-haired man looked up, and there was the culprit. "You're a bit slow aren't you Neji-san?"

Neji gave her a smile, "I was only testing you."

Sakura laughed and shook her pink head. "You're impossible. Let's change some rules, only one on one taijutsu, with no Byakugan."

"Are you scared that I'm going to win?"

"No, I'm afraid that you'll get seriously hurt when I kick your ass."

Neji merely looked at her, "I guess we should start then."

"Of course."

The hot sun was now high in the sky. Its rays beat down on the sweaty pair; the heat was intensifying. Neji stood up and stretch. _'What's with the crazy weather today?'_ He offered his hand to the bubblegum-haired woman sitting on the ground. Sakura happily accepted it and pulled herself up.

"That was a great spar; I haven't had one as good for a long time."

"Are you sure you don't want to come over for lunch?"

Sakura nodded, "I need to go home and shower before I meet Tsunade-sama."

Neji gave her a curt nod, "come over for dinner then and bring Kakashi-senpai too." With that said, he disappeared in a cloud of smoke leaving Sakura with the once again the peaceful nature.

Sakura sighed and stretched her tired limbs. Her stomach gave a small grumble, _'damn, that took longer than expected.'_ She quickly did a few seals and disappeared.

With a crackle, Sakura popped into her kitchen.

"Sakura"

"Ohayou, Kakashi-sensei."

Kakashi scratched his messy silver locks, "Don't call me that; it makes me sound old."

"If you say so, Kakashi-**sensei**. I'm going to shower. We can go out for lunch after."

"Only if you're treating," Kakashi smiled.

Sakura gave an easy laugh, "Sure."

Sakura was done in fifteen minutes. She walked out the door with Kakashi following, locking the door. They made it down the main street; the merchants were still hard at work. The street was noisy and crowded, but Sakura never felt more like home. The two stepped in a small restaurant, the air conditioning blasted into their face. Naruto had claimed that they made "the best dumplings ever" and it was worth trying. They were seated; a medium age woman came to serve them. The woman took a look at Kakashi from behind the counter and literally saw stars. She walked "seductively" to Kakashi and Sakura and asked them in a "sexy" voice what they would like to have.

Sakura raised her eyebrows at Kakashi. "Two combo number 2's please," Kakashi said politely.

"Of course, right away!" The lady gushed, as she rushed to the kitchen to tell the chief the orders.

Sakura finally let go of her laugh as the lady disappeared into the kitchen. "Always the ladies' man, aren't you Kakashi?"

Kakashi smiled innocently, "It's the mask."

Time passed by as noon drew near. Laughter from table three was heard even outside the restaurant. Sakura stopped laughing and looked at the clock on the wall. Quarter to noon. Time passed by quickly without her knowing.

Kakashi followed her gaze and he too stared at the clock. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. He put a couple of Yens on the table and broke the silence. "Come on Sakura, its almost time."

Sakura snapped out of her small trance. She looked down at the table, "I thought I was paying."

"Next time."

Sakura gave a playful smile to her teacher, and stood up. "Let's go."

Kakashi and Sakura cut through a small park. Children were playing on the playground. Sakura stopped so abruptly Kakashi almost crashed into her. Kakashi scratched his head, "Sakura, don't stop so sudden like that."

But she wasn't listening; she continued to watch the children. There on the playground was a small girl with light orange hair being picked on by her peers.

"He'll never like you! You're too ugly!" A girl with short brown hair teased. "What's wrong with your hair! Are your parents oranges?"

Tears streamed down the young girl's faces, "No, don't say that!"

Another girl laughed, "What are you going to do? Run home and cry to your mommy?" She paused, "Hey Kenji!"

A little boy timidly came forward. The girl with short brown hair gave him a quick kiss on his cheek. "He's **my **boyfriend, now. Isn't that right Kenji-kun?" The boy looked down at his shoes and looked away.

The little girl began to cry even more, "You're supposed to be my friend!" She screamed.

The other girl laughed, "Friend? Who would ever want to be your friend!"

"I would." The kids looked up to a pretty lady with long pink hair.

The little brown hair girl laughed, "No you wouldn't, look at her. Have you ever seen someone so ugly?"

Sakura raised her eyebrows at her, "What's your name?"

"Leiko Furuguichi"

Sakura looked at the small girl crying in her arms, "What's your name?"

"Akina."

Sakura smiled upon hearing her name, "My name's Sakura."

"That's a pretty name," Akina sniffed.

The pink-haired kunoichi searched for the small boy, when she finally spotted him she asked, "Your name is Kenji, am I right?" The boy nodded, "Why don't you join Akina, my friend Kakashi and me for ice cream?"

The boy brightens at this and gave a small, "Ok."

Kakashi coughed behind her, "We're going to be late Sakura."

Sakura simply choose to ignore him and straighten up. She held onto Akina's small hand, Kenji's in her other hand and walked away from the deceiving children.

"KENJI COME BACK HERE! OR…OR… I'LL BREAK UP WITH YOU!" Leiko screamed.

Kenji turned around and stared at her, "I was never going out with you in the first place, and I'll never will."

The two children held Sakura's hands tightly and walked into the ice cream shop.

"Choose anything you want."

Kakashi dragged Sakura away from the children at the counter. "What are you doing Sakura? Tsunade-sama will not be happy if you're late! Do you want that ANBU spot or not?"

Akina and Kenji were walking back holding hands with their ice cream. "Tsunade-Obaasan? Why would she be mad?" Akina asked.

Sakura gave an easy laugh, "I'm suppose to fight her, to prove myself ANBU material. It's nothing."

Kenji and Akina's eyes widen, "ANBU?"

Kenji looked at Sakura with admiration, "You must be very strong nee-san."

Akina's eyes wandered to the clock, "its 12:30, nee-san." Akina's eyes began to water again, "It's my fault, if you haven't seen me crying in the park, you wouldn't be late!"

Sakura gave her a small smile, "It's not your fault Akina, it'll be fine."

Akina suddenly got up and grabbed Sakura's hand. "Let's go! I'll explain to Tsunade-Obaa-san, you won't get in trouble!"

Kakashi snorted, "She's always mad, I swear that woman is on PMS everyday."

Sakura gave Kakashi a warning glare. "Why do you keep calling her Obaa-san?"

Akina smiled, "She's my god-mother, she loves me the most! Come on!"

The young woman smiled, "Thank you Akina. You know what? I used to get picked on when I was little too."

Akina looked up at her, "You? Really? …Why?"

"My forehead is huge."

The girl giggled, "No it isn't!"

"It is!"

"Nuh-uh!"

Kakashi smiled at the arguing pair, "It was REALLY big, you could see her from a mile away. Who's that big-forehead girl? Sakura of course!"

Sakura whacked Kakashi on his head, "Nobody asked for your opinion!"

They all laughed as they walked up the stairs to Tsunade's office. They were met by the Hokage herself.

"Sakura," Tsunade said sharply, "You're half an hour late! My mind is half made up to cancel you."

"No! Tsuande-Obaasan! It's my fault… You see, these people were picking on me and Sakura-nee san stopped them!"

Tsunade raised an eyebrow, her mouth still stern, but Kakashi could swear that he could see a twinkle in her eye.

"Is this true?" Tsunade asked Kakashi and Kenji. The two nodded their heads repeatedly. "Alright, if that's the case, than I guess I can't cancel you."

Akina and Kenji cheered.

"Akina, take you and your friend home."

"Yes, Obaa-san! Arigatou Sakura-nee-san!"

Sakura gave the two a hug before they hurried home.

"Well Sakura, shall we start?"

* * *

A/N: There you have it! A new chapter! Sorry for taking so long to write this chapter, but school work is very demanding. I added the Akina, Leiko, and Kenji scene in because Sakura was starting to doubt herself back at the restaurant. Akina reminds her when she was little, and she also reminds her why she wanted to become a Kunoichi in the first place. Akina means 'spring flower,' another reason why Sakura is attracted to her. Leiko means arrogant, which is self-explanatory. I guess Kenji basically means intelligent, and strong. Hopefully I can post the next chapter up sometime this month. Thank you for those that reviewed: Phoe-chan, cruisegirl86, MommyRogers, Great Saiyaman, joann, and cocoa-latte. Of course, I can't thank my beta-reader cocoa-latte enough. Thanks for reading! Please review. 


	3. Chapter Three

Make Believe  
Chapter three  
_By evil mittens_

Thousands of razor-sharp needles fell from the sky. Sakura quickly coated herself with a protective shield as the needles bounced off of it. It has only been a few minutes since she has started and already, she picked up a few scratches and burns.

'_I won't last long at this rate,'_ she sneaked a glace at the copycat ninja sitting near by. _'What would Kakashi do?'_

"DO WHAT HE'S DOING RIGHT NOW! READ THAT PERVERTED BOOK OF HIS!" screamed Inner Sakura.

"Your chakra will drain quickly if you keep on dong that," Tsunade said, almost lazily.

An idea popped into Sakura's mind just then. _'That's what she thinks.'_

Sakura bounced off a tree branch and landed on the next while undertaking rapid hand seals.

Something wet landed on the back of Tsunade's neck. A few more landed and melted quickly as they hit her skin. She looked up into the sky only to find millions of fluffy, yet powdery substance falling from the darken sky.

'_Snow?'_ Tsunade shook her blonde head. _'An obvious and simple genjutsu.' _The mastermind, herself had seemed to disappear from the crime of the scene. _'She'll have to do better than this to become an ANBU.'_

"Kai," Tsunade quickly cancelled the snowy genjutus, only to find herself surrounded by floating Sakura petals.

Tsunade arched one of her perfectly plucked eyebrows. An interesting jutsu to hide one's self, and Sakura was succeeding. Tsunade could not place where Sakura was. Her chakra was scattered in all directions and it was hard to detect where the real Sakura was.

The wind was fiercely blowing, but Tsunade did not notice until it nearly knocked her down.

'_What the…?'_

The Sakura petals seem to be dancing with the wind now, a strange, yet enchanting dance. Tsunade's eyes widen in surprise. Another genjutsu? She swiftly performed the seals to cancel it.

"Kai!" She shouted, but nothing happened.

A soft voice drifted out and surrounded her; she looked around repeatedly, but could find no one.

"Two."

The wind changed again, sending not nearly enough power as last time. The petals continued to dance their strange, little dance, but something was different.

Their dance was more exotic, fiercer. They were inviting her to dance with them.

'_Then dance,'_ a voice commanded in her head. _'Dance!'_

"Dance," she murmured out loud. She felt like she was floating in air. Tsunade never felt something like that before. Soft petals brushed against her, making her feel warm and secure.

Something warm dripped down her leg, making her stop. Blood! It was her blood.

Tsunade snapped out of her daydream only to find herself standing close to a cliff. Her arms and legs were coved in loud, angry cuts.

'_The petals! …A trick to distract her!'_

She waved angrily at the softly falling petals, pushing them out of her face.

"Three."

Tsunade's head snapped up, the wind was picking up again. _'What type of jutsu was this?'_

The petals were no longer falling; they weren't even dancing any more. They started to swarm her like crazy hornets. Tsunade couldn't see a single thing, and she most certainly did not see that fist coming.

Sakura's fist collided with Tsunade's jaw, leaving Tsunade with a coppery taste in her mouth. Tsunade staggered to get up.

"What the hell?" She mumbled, wiping her bloody mouth clean.

Tsunade's eyes shot open at the sounds of birds. The buzzing was not normal and the birds were singing differently; it was almost like a nice, peaceful melody.

Sakura stood a few feets in front of her with a pink, glowing ball of chakra in her hand. Before Tsunade could blink, Sakura appeared at her side. The pink haired kunoichi slammed the perfectly mould ball of chakra at the tree where Tsunade had landed. The chakra ball had missed her, but it nibbled a bit of her skin. The skin around her left shoulder ripped.

Tsunade winced at the added pain.

Sakura stepped back, "I don't think the people of Konoha will be happy if I killed their Hokage. That'll only mean that Naruto will be the new Hokage; and everyone knows that dunce isn't exactly ready yet."

Tsunade held her glowing hand to her freshly made wound. The blood stopped spewing out, but it was still very bloody.

"Here," Sakura took out a rag and picked up Kakashi's canteen of water.

"Hey! That's mine!" protested Kakashi.

Sakura ignored the lazy ninja and poured some water on the cloth. She handed the damp cloth to Tsunade. Tsunade nodded a quick thanks and wiped up the gory mess.

"Those were pretty amazing jutsus," Tsunade said while wrapping her shoulder with a long cloth bandage.

Sakura blushed, "I picked them up and kind of altered them."

Tsunade smiled at the young kunoichi, "Beautiful, yet dangerous. It suits you well. Now tell me all about it as we go back up to my office to celebrate."

"Celebrate?" Sakura's eyebrows wrinkled in confusion.

Tsunade ignored her question, "Once we get back, we'll get you your tattoo and you can paint your mask."

Sakura broke into a beautiful smile, "I passed?"

"Yes, now come on, let's get some sake with that as well."

The trio walked through the open doors of Tsunade's office. The office itself had magically transferred from a garbage dump to a, well… office. Shizune stood proudly behind the fifth Hokage's desk.

"Tsunade-sam—"Shizune stopped abruptly at the sight in front of her.

"Shizune!"

"Hai, Tsunade-sama"

"Bring back the all the bottles of sake you can hold!"

"But Tsunade-sama! This is no time to get drunk, you have a lot of paperwork to do."

"No buts go this instance."

Sakura laughed shakily, "Tsunade-sama, we don't need sake to celebrate."

Tsunade looked at Sakura solemnly, "Ever holiday or occasion needs sake, or what's the point of celebrating?

"Yes, well… we can always celebrate differently! We can—"

Kakashi cut her off, and looked at Tsunade seriously, "You celebrate every holiday? Even Spring Equinox Day? Isn't that disgraceful?

Tsunade threw a meaningful glare at Kakashi, "You know what I meant."

"Actually, no I don't"

"Do you want me to show you?" Tsunade's eyes brightened as she cracked her knuckles.

"Y— Oww!"

"Excuse him, Tsunade-sama. He knew what you meant, he was just joking around. Sakura gave a small smile, "Sake will be fine, but I'm not a big drinker."

"We know who is," mumbled the injured Kakashi.

Sakura added another bruise onto Kakashi's leg. Tsunade raised her eyebrows, "What was that Kakashi?"

"Nothing, I just said, neither am I."

"Really? I thought you said something different."

Shizune looked at the arguing pair and laughed nervously, "I'll go get those sakes now, the usual brand?"

"Yes, yes of course. As well, inform Naruto and the others about the party." Tsunade turned her attention away from Shizune and focused on Sakura. "We'll go get that tattoo of yours and your mask."

Sakura gave Tsunade a small bow of courtesy, "Thank you Tsunade-sama."

"Come; that paint takes a bit of time to dry."

"Hai."

* * *

"MORE SAKE!" 

Kiba poured more sake into the drunk blonde's glass; missing the cup completely a few times.

Naruto laughed loudly and quickly poured all the sake down his throat. "Tsunade-Obaaaaaaaaasan! Not gonna faint now, are you?"

"Bakaaa! You can't hold up your own liquor!" Tsunade snarled, standing up quickly. Unfortunately the liquor was catching up to her. She took a plunge, smashing her face against the table.

Naruto laughed again, and drowned the whole bottle of sake in less than a second. "You're the one to talk!"

Tsunade sloppily got up, "I'm the Legendary Drinker! I never get drunk!"

Naruto roared, "More like Legendary SUCKER!"

The Godaime's eyes blazed, sending a sake bottle at the laughing blonde's head. Luckily for Naruto, a not-so-drunk Kakashi caught the bottle before it came crashing down on Naruto's head.

Naruto looked up, "You wanna take this outside? Huh? HUH?"

"Actually, I do!"

"I'm going to kick your sorry ass!" Naruto got up wobbly, tripping under his own feet. The very drunk shinobi came crashing down onto the floor; the crowd just watched him fall, hitting headfirst.

"Ouch, he's gonna feel that tomorrow."

"Yeah, he's going to have a major headache…"

"Hey, where's Hinata?"

A murmur went throughout the crowd, while a certain silent Hokage sat on the floor next to Naruto's head. Tsunade poked the fallen blonde's head, and started to laugh uncontrollably. Everyone turned and looked at her.

"I—win!"

"…" Dozens of eyes stared at her, like she was a crazy maniac.

Shizune looked at the laughing Tsunade. "Tsunade-sama, I think it's time we go."

"Nonsense Shizune! It's Sakura's ANBU celebration party! The party just started!"

Tsunade's apprentice gave her a look, "We've been partying for three hours now, and you have a lot of work to catch up."

"Shizune, you're such a party pooper! Alright, alright, let's go."

The brunette medic extended her arm and pulled up the drunken Tsunade. Tsunade got up unsteadily, and ended up crashing into Shizune.

"PARTY'S OVEEEER!" Tsunade yelled, while failing another attempt to get up. Groans were heard throughout the room, as tired and drunken Konoha shinobis filed out of the room.

Tsunade looked down at the unconscious Naruto, "What should we do with him?"

Shizune quickly cast a glance at him, "I'll give him a hangover drink, and he'll be fine."

"No, just leave him this way," Tsunade's eyes lit up, "He called me a sucker, he deserves it."

"But Tsunade-sama, he's going to have a big hangover tomorrow."

"Good, let's bring him back to his place and wait until Hinata finds him." Tsunade laughed evilly, thinking of what the sweet Byakugan user would do to him when she finds him.

"But Tsunade-sa—"

"Don't Tsunade-sama me, let's go."

"Hai…"

* * *

Sakura had left the party long before. She had only had one drink and refused all the other offers offered to her. She carefully snuck out before one of her friends could see her. She was going to leave before that, but Kakashi caught her and yelled out very loudly that she was escaping. Her friends dragged her back, surrounding her with chatter. Kakashi, seeing that everyone was occupied, had slipped out unnoticed and ran for it. 

She wasn't very into drinking parties. Her best friend on the other hand, loves them. _'Naruto probably passed out on the floor again, Hinata won't be happy."_

Sakura remembered when they were just a genin. Naruto would secretly take Jiraiya's sake bottles and spread the wealth between his friends. Sakura never drunk much, but Naruto and Kiba on the other hand were always the first to pass out. Hinata wasn't dating Naruto yet, and she was still her old, timid self.

Sakura on the other hand, always had to drag Naruto back to his house after the long night of booze. She would come by in the morning to unpleasantly watch Naruto wretch into the toilet bowl and later scolding at him. Naruto never seem to learn his lesson, and history repeats itself over and over again.

Sakura shook her head; _'He's Hinata's responsibility now.' _She felt pity for her friend.

She walked down the dusty, familiar path to her old hideout. _'It's been long.'_

She pushed off from the ground and landed gracefully on the old growth tree branch. Sakura sat down and stared out towards the distance. From her view, she could overlook the whole village. A few feets next to her, a waterfall roared. She sighed and swung her legs, a beautiful night for star glazing.

Her hand brushed against the rough bark, stopping at the jagged markings engraved into the tree. She turned her head and stared at them.

"Sakura and Sasuke Forever," read Sakura.

She snorted, looking at her childish carvings. "Nothing but puppy love. It's not like he ever cared."

The young woman took out a kunai and scratched out the names. _'Nothing is forever.'_

When Sakura was finally satisfied, she put her kunai back in her kunai pouch. "How stupid I must have been. Following him like a sick puppy."

She sighed and jumped off the branch, _'But he could have been nicer about it…'_

Sakura stared at the monument of the past Hokages. _'Naruto's face is going to be up there soon. How time flies.' _

The village of Konoha was her home. _'If a bastard like Sasuke is going to betray it, there's no point on loving someone like that.'_

She pulled out her ANBU mask. She painted it like a cat, a cat with the same green eyes like her. _'Better than what Kakashi-senpai suggested.'_ Sakura shuddered, _'A boar.' _He had some nerves to call her a boar. Although, he was not directly calling her that, he was indirectly implying it.

He's been making fun of her the whole day, "I'm gonna kill him."

"I knew you were weird, but do you usually talk to yourself?"

Speak of the devil. Kakashi walked over to his ex-pupil, "So, whom are you going to kill?"

Sakura ignored him, "A boar huh? Do I look like a boar to you? Are you calling me fat?"

Kakashi eyes crinkled, "Maybe not a boar, more like a pig! Your pink hair, your temper; pig is more like it."

"Pigs doesn't do anything but eat and sleep! That's more like you!"

"Pig."

Sakura screamed in frustration, "Do you enjoy annoying me on purpose? Don't you have something better to do?"

"No, Jiraiya just gave me all the books up-to-date this morning."

"So read them and stop annoying me!"

"I've finished them all and I like annoying you."

Sakura looked at him quizzically, "You finished all of them? How many did he give you? We've been gone for three years…"

"Nine."

"You finished all nine in one day?"

"Yup, they're getting better. They're getting more realistic. In the fifth book, the guy and the girl th—"

Sakura quickly covered her ears, "Don't tell me!"

"But you asked."

"I asked you if you finished nine in one day! I never asked ABOUT the books! What are you doing here anyways?"

"I came to find you," he said simply. Sakura gave him a weird look. "You have a long day for you tomorrow," He continued. "You won't want to get killed on your first day."

Sakura rolled her eyes, "Great, sounds like fun."

"I also have some news for you."

"Oh?"

"I'm going back to ANBU." He rubbed his head thoughtfully, "I don't think I can handle another bunch of crazy kids like you."

"Hey!"

"Teaching is a lot of work, I'm not cut out for it. ANBU is more slack, I can read more on missions."

"What! ANBU is a life or death situation!"

Kakashi turned his back away from Sakura, "Hurry, you have to go home and rest. You'll get killed tomorrow and I'll laugh at you."

'_He's definitely gone psycho.'_

Sakura gave the sleeping village one last look and ran to catch up with the tall shinobi. Kakashi suddenly placed his hand on Sakura's head affectionately. "You've grown up and became a strong pig."

* * *

**A/N:** Wow! I never wrote a chapter so fast. Sorry for not the long delay, but I just finished school and exams. As well, you're probably wondering when Sasuke is going to come in… Sasuke is probably going to appear in a few chapters. Probably 2 more chapters before he comes in. Since it's summer, I'll try my best to write more, so don't worry about me dying. I made up Sakura's moves, so they're not that great. I know chakra is suppose to be blue… but she did say she altered it didn't she:) Thank you for all the reviews! You guys are great! 

RyuNanashi, Mad-killer-bunnies-alert, Mina, Dagorwen of Ithilien, Arandomreader, Waterfox96: Thanks for the reviews! Sorry for the long wait!

Kira-924: I'm glad you're happy! I hope this chapter makes you happy too! Wait 2 more chapters, and Sasuke will be here!

Seirei-flower: Wow! Thank you for that long review! I loved it! I liked the orange part too; it just suddenly popped into my head so I wrote it down. Sakura and Kakashi are good friends; I'm saving Sakura for Sasuke. :P I thought Ino and Shikamaru would be kinda weird together, but reading some fanfics they kinda grew on me. Sasuke isn't a leaf-nin anymore. He's a missing-nin, but Sakura will see him again. Yup, this is SakuSasu! Sorry for taking so long to get this up! hugs thank you again for the review! You're Filipino? That's cool, I'm Canadian. :)

Cocoa-latte: thank you for being a great beta


	4. Chapter Four

Make Believe  
Chapter four_  
By evil mittens_

The rain poured down, leaving muddy puddles in the dirt. Blood streamed out of an open mouth of a man, as his bruised and bloody body hit the earthy ground. His other comrades suffered the same fate as him, and were now lying variously across the forest ground.

"Let's go," Said a muffled voice.

Naruto looked up, wincing. "Come on Sakura-chan; we're nearly on our death bed and all you can do is ask us to get up and head back?"

He watched her masked face turn towards him. He swore that he could feel in smirk emitting underneath her disguise. "Well that's not my fault, is it? After all, it wasn't _my idea _to force myself to stay back and watch you guys fight until you're "on your death bed," was it?"

Naruto pushed the mask off and he brushed the blood off his chin with his grimy sleeve. "I was only trying to protect you," he said, his azure eyes burning into her, "You know I made a promise that I would protect you no matter what."

It was Naruto and Sasuke's promise… to protect her no matter what. Her eyes were starting to brim with tears. She was glad that Naruto couldn't see her eyes.

She answered back in a surprisingly sharp voice. "Alright, let's really go now. You're almost healed, anyway."

The boisterous man looked down at his hands. The deep cuts had healed. "Great. I think the others will be fine too – after you heal them?" He looked at her questionably.

"Right," she murmured, as she shuffled over to her teammates and gathered some glowing blue chakra to heal their wounds.

* * *

Naruto groaned as he entered through the gates of Konoha. He complained to Sakura, "I still have to write up the stupid report of the mission for the old hag."

"Don't call her a hag, Naruto," she chided, "and what's so hard about writing a report? One page and you're done."

He mimicked Tsunade, "It's not good enough… blah, blah, blah." He waved his arms around. "Now get out of the room, I have work to do."

"Well, you obviously did something wrong."

He smiled, "There was nothing wrong with me, and she was just high on sake."

"Whatever," she said, "I can't even believe that you of all people were made captain of the ANBU team."

Naruto swallowed his saliva. "Well, Neji and I usually take turns, 'cause only hell knows what would happen if it were always me who's in charge."

"Naruto-kun, Sakura-chan!" called a voice.

Sakura smiled and waved while Naruto swung around and broke into a huge smile. "Hinata-chan!" He was ecstatic.

He ran over and gave her a loud over-exaggerated peck on the lips.

The timid woman blushed. "Naruto…"

Sakura grinned broadly. If there was ever a contest for the sweetest couple, she knew whom she'd nominate.

Naruto was already beginning to yap away. "How are you? I haven't found a ramen stand during the entire mission. Let's go now! Four days without ramen really kills a guy."

It was miraculous how he could make not eat ramen sound like it was causing him intense suffering.

Hinata looked at him knowingly. "It doesn't kill a guy, it'd only kill you."

He held his hands up in false surrender. "Alright, it only kills me; now I'm dying. Let's go, already!"

"I don't think so. You're going to go back home and take a shower first." Hinata smiled. "Oh yah," she mumbled, "Sakura-chan, do you want to come along with us afterwards? You deserve a treat."

The petite pink-haired kunoichi gave a face. "No thanks. I'm not a big fan of ramen."

Naruto pouted at his childhood crush. "You say that every time, Sakura-chan. Why don't you just come along with us?"

She ignored him and grinned at Hinata. "Thank you for asking though, but I should really go home and get some rest."

Naruto scoffed, "Man, is that all women think about? Beauty rest? Pft," he said with annoyance.

Sakura gave him an evil smile. "At least I'm not the one who only thinks about ramen all day," her eyes narrowed, "You're lucky that I'm not that one who usually treats you either." She looked pointedly over at Hinata, who nodded profoundly.

"Beauty rest isn't the only thing I think about, right Naruto­-_kun_?" asked Hinata in a rather forced sweet voice.

He shrugged with no concern whatsoever. "If you say so. Let's go," he said to Hinata. "Back to home, I mean. I need to take a shower."

Hinata smiled softly. She loved it when he was so dense. "Alright," she said. God, she gave in too easily.

* * *

Sakura cranked open an eyelid and glanced over at her clock. "Damn," she muttered to no one in particular. It was five minutes to midnight and she had just finished her short one-hour nap.

After a lot of persuasion from Naruto and a promise that he'd treat her out for a drink one night, she agreed to write up the mission report for him. _'Why the hell do I get myself into these kinds of things?'_

Her emerald green eyes glazed over the muddy papers. Naruto had scribbled down a few notes to remind himself what had happened throughout the mission. Sakura narrowed her eyes at Naruto's chicken scrawl and mentally scolded at herself for getting into this mess. Unfortunately for Sakura, the ANBU captain was never good in school.

Sakura banged her head on the desk, _'These don't make sense!'_

Finally after 3 hours of curses and frustration, Sakura set the finished product on the desk in a neat pile. The kunoichi fell back onto the soft, down duvets in exhaustion. She soon fell back to sleep.

* * *

Light shown through the curtains and woke the pink hair woman up with a start. She squinted at the bright sun and flipped over onto her stomach. It was still early out. There was enough time to grab some breakfast before she met up with the noisy blonde. Sakura quickly got out of bed and got ready for the new day. A fresh breeze hit her as she walked out of her door and descended down the apartment stairs. Sakura headed towards the direction of the Hokage's tower, but stopped at a taiyaki shop first. She always had a strange craving for sweets, and could even eat them early in the morning. Sakura placed her order a long with a few baked buns. She sorted out her change and gave it to the woman at the counter and watched intently as the woman picked up the pastry snacks for her. Sakura gratefully thanked the woman and continued her way eating her breakfast.

There weren't a lot of people on the streets yet. It was still early, and normal people were still sleeping. One or two elderly villagers acknowledge her, and she waved and bid them good day. As usually, Naruto had not arrived yet. But he showed up a few minutes after Sakura had arrived. Sakura, knowing her best friend well, had left her apartment late and walked extra slow. Naruto, being Naruto, bolted out the door without combing his hair and ran all the way to the Hokage's tower.

"Sakura-chan!"

Sakura shot the irresponsible blonde an annoyed glare, "Don't Sakura-chan me! Do you know how long it took me to read your chicken scrawl crap?"

"Ehh… Sakura-chan, you actually read it?"

Sakura blew strands of her hair out of her eyes, "No, I gave up after an hour and made up my own."

Naruto grinned widely and hugged her, "I knew you could finish it! Thanks Sakura-chan."

She handed him the report and watched him scanned through it.

"It's so neat! You could have written a bit uglier… Now Tsunade-Obaa-san's gonna yell at me for doing my own report."

"Serves you right."

Naruto pouted. "But, Sakura-chan… Don't you care if I get into trouble?"

"No."

"You're so mean…"

Before Sakura could reply, a voice came down the stairs, "Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura, Tsunade-sama wishes to speak with you."

The two best friends looked at each other in surprise and followed the order. The climbed up the winding stairs and walked down the hallway towards Tsunade's office. Two guards pushed opened the heavy mahogany doors. Tsunade sat behind the wooden desk, she gestured them to sit down in the chairs in front of her.

"We have a new mission that just came in. It's a B rank mission from a small village north of Konoha."

She took out a creamy vanilla coloured folder and handed to them.

"You will assist this man, Matsushita Fuku to the borders of Hidden Rain village. You will go as a four-man team."

Sakura eyebrows rose, "Another mission, we just came back yesterday. What's the history behind this man? Why does he need protection from us?"

The fifth Hokage sighed. "Matsushita Fuku is a very wealthy, yet greedy man. He's going to Rain for some business, money matters." She added dryly. "A man like him probably has a few enemies after him as well. He originally wanted the highest protection he could buy. But, naturally, I can't make it an S or A rank mission. You will go as regular jounins for this mission. But there's currently controversy starting to brew between Mist and Grass again. So make sure to bring your ANBU uniform with you. If something starts, I'll send a bird over to trace you guys; you will start on the new assignment then."

"EHHH! What a boring mission Tsuande-Obaa-san! Why can't you make little chuunin do it?"

Tsunade shot Naruto an irritated glare, "He's paying us a lot of money; if we want him to come back, we must send him decent shinobis!

Naruto huffed, "How much?"

"This much"

Sakura eyed the piece of paper. _'That is a lot of zeros…'_

Naruto's eyes nearly popped out of his sockets. "Okay, okay, I get the message."

Sakura looked up from the piece of paper, "Who else is coming with us?"

"Neji and Kisho. I have already informed them about this, you will leave tomorrow at sunrise to the village. It should take you around 2 days to get to Rain. Once you reach there, you will stay overnight and then return home if nobody's come to meet you. Take care."

* * *

Sakura woke up bright and early that morning. She quickly stuffed her belongings into a small backpack, along with her ANBU uniform and some black hair dye. The Hokage had made it clear to her that she must not stand out in the group. She was to bring her dye to every ANBU mission and follow the 10 minutes procedure to get the desire colour. Sakura scanned her apartment to make sure everything was turned off before she locked her door. The streets were quietly eerie and the sound of her footsteps echo throughout the streets. Even if it was still dark out, she could hear birds chirping quietly in the background.

Raising her eyes off the ground she could make out two silhouettes in the distance. A happy blonde and a happy brunette stood next to each other waving ecstatically to Sakura.

'_How can they even be so happy so early in the morning?'_

"Sakura-chan! This is Kisho; he likes to eat ramen too!"

Kisho laughed merrily, "Not as much as you Uzumaki-san!" He turned to Sakura and held out his hand, "I'm Yamamato Kisho! Twenty-two years old, and I just got into ANBU!" He took Sakura's hand and shook it enthusiastically. Still holding Sakura's hand, he turned back to Naruto, "Where's Hyuuga-san? Shouldn't we leave soon? Would we make it there on time?"

Naruto laughed, "He'll be coming soon! He might be grumpy at first… and probably very serious. He might have a look like this!" Naruto made a funny scowling face and pouted. "But once you get to know him, he's actually a softy!"

A shadow fell between the two laughing idiots. Sakura smirked as they looked up to find the very person they were talking about.

"H-hyuuga-san!"

"Neji!" Naruto stole a glance at Kisho, "We were just…"

"Talking about me?"

"Err… no of course not."

Neji huffed, "Anyway, I went to see the Hokage this morning. She's appointed me captain for this mission. She also gave me communication devices, and more information folders."

Naruto sulked, "Why do you get to be captain?"

The Byakugan choose to ignore him, "We should leave now, or we'll be late arriving at the village."

The other three nodded, and the four of them started to walk to the gates of Konoha. Naruto and Kisho chatted animatedly up front, while Sakura and Neji brought up the rear.

Sakura glanced at her friend walking beside her, "What took you so long? You couldn't have taken _that_ long talking to Tsunade. Did you just have a hit and run with Ten Ten?"

Neji looked away "Shut up Haruno; I wouldn't do such things." He added gruffly.

The bubble-gum haired girl smirked, "Then why are your lips all swollen?"

Neji's ears turned red and he unconsciously clamped his mouth shut. Sakura turned around and looked back at him thoughtfully. "You have lipstick on your lips too."

The poor raven-haired shinobi hastily tried to rub the evidence off, until he realized… "Ten Ten didn't wear lipstick this morning!"

Sakura only smiled as a fuming Neji followed her. Once they stepped out of the Konoha gates, they quickly sprinted off to the northern village.

* * *

They arrived at the village just in time. Neji had already informed the group about the "enemies" and strategize what to do if something was to happen to Fuku. Fuku and his men were arriving to their meeting spot. The young group of ANBUs were hiding in the trees, observing the man. What seem to be an army of five men were carrying a large carriage fit for a King. They stood still, waiting for the special jounins to grace their presence. The group hopped off the tree branches and stepped out of the shadows. The men almost dropped the heavy carriage in surprise.

"What are you doing, you fools!" asked a loud anxious voice.

"S-s-sorry Matsushita-sama. The jounins from Konoha are here."

A hand pushed away the curtains and revealed a medium built man. He was short, with apprehensive beady eyes and thinning grey hair. He looked down at the group haughtily and nodded at them.

"Well! What you waiting for? Let's go!"

He withdrew his head and the curtains fell into place. The Konoha grouped looked at each other and quickly got into place. Neji and Kisho were leading the pack, while Sakura and Naruto brought up the back. The rest of the day went smoothly. There were constant breaks for the tired men, and continuous nags and whines from the old man.

"Get me some water, boy!" Matsushita demanded Naruto.

Sakura pulled Naruto away from the man, before he could say something. She half dragged him into the forest towards the stream, parallel to the path. The young man struggled beneath Sakura's grip, until she stopped.

"Let go of me! I'll teach that old fart a lesson. Who does he think he is? Who does he think **I **am!"

Sakura's eye twitched irritably. "Listen," She said harshly, "Just do what he says, and… just think of all the ramen you can buy, once you get paid."

Naruto stopped for a minute to daydream about the mountains of ramen, "But Sakura-chan! We're ninjas. Jounins! ANBUs!"

The woman clamped his mouth shut with her hand. "What are you trying to do? Tell the whole world!"

Naruto edge away from Sakura a bit. Tempers between the group of jounins were flying high. Sakura was ready to bite someone's head off.

He gave his friend an understanding look. "It's almost night fall; but we can still walk a bit more. We're close the Rain boarders anyway. It shouldn't be long before we get there tomorrow, if we walk one or two kilometres more. Plus, the sooner we get there the sooner we get ride of him."

Sakura gave a curt nod, and head back towards to group. Once the pair re-joined the group, Naruto went over to Neji to tell him the plan.

Matsushita eyed them, his face turning purple. Naruto finished talking to Neji, and he seemed to agree with him. That's when Matsushita exploded.

"HEY, BOY, YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO GET MY WATER!"

Naruto's face was drawn; Sakura could tell what was going through his mind. "Sorry," he muttered.

He walked back towards the stream, swearing under his breath. "Stupid bastard."

* * *

The next morning, the mismatched group woke up bright and early. Not even the two noisy ones were in a good mood. They had found out throughout the night that Matsushita was not a quiet sleeper.

The team continue to make their way to Rain, as the sun rose. Thankfully, they were almost done, and the shinobis had something to look forward to. Sakura rubbed the sleepiness out of her eyes and staggered her way through. Matsushita was still rambling on about who knows what.

Sakura looked around at her team-mates, and quietly giggled to herself when she saw Kisho's face. He was talking quietly to Kisho about his favourite topic: ramen. Kisho nodded politely at his comrade, while making a strange face as Naruto continued to talk.

Sakura's eyes met with Kisho's. She gave him a sympatric look; she understood perfectly what he was feeling. How many times has she been caught listen to the blonde ramble off? Kisho was now clearly shooting her a "help me" look.

"Hey Naruto, why don't go join Neji at the back? He's all by himself."

"Ah! Good idea Sakura-chan! I can tell him my story about that nasty ramen place on Fifth Avenue. I had to sit in the bathroom for so long after I ate there! I stunk up the whole bathroom!" And with that, Naruto bounced to where Neji was walking, but not before he shot the hidden Matsushita the finger.

The bubble-gum hair woman shook her head. Neji wasn't going to be happy about this arrangement. _'Serves him right, he made Naruto come up to the front when he found out the new rotation was with Naruto.'_

"Thank you Haruno-san!" He gave her a grateful look and shook his head as well. "I've never met a guy so obsessed with ramen."

Sakura laughed, "That's Naruto for you."

Kisho laughed merrily along with her, "Yup!"

* * *

By mid-day they've finally arrived at the Rain borders. The army of men set Matsushita down and the man got out of his carriage. A group of strange looking men were gathered within the borders waiting for them. Matsushita pulled out a big parcel from his carriage and walked over to the men. They gathered around, and watched their bosses exchange their items. Matsushita came back with a large bag with rolls of cash sticking out of it.

Kisho and Naruto's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. Matsushita waved to the Rain men as they retreated back. Matsushita turned to the Konoha nins and gave them a cheeky grin.

"Thank you for your hard work." He pulled some cash out of the bag, "I'm feeling generous, so keep this as tips."

Matsushita handed each a wad of cash and gave some to his men too. And with that, Matsushita's group head back to the village, while the jounins proceeded into Rain.

Naruto skipped along merrily as he counted his money with Kisho. Sakura rolled her eyes, "You better put that away before someone robs you."

Naruto scoffed, "I'll beat them up before they can lay a singer finger on my money!" But he obediently stuffed the money into his pocket.

They flashed their ID's to the Rain guards and stepped inside the village.

Naruto yawned and stretched his arms. "Let's go eat, or find somewhere to spend all this money."

Neji put up his hands to stop the crazy blonde, "You shouldn't buy so much stuff here. If we have another mission, how are you going to drag all of the stuff around?"

The blonde scowled at Neji's logic, "Fine, let's go find a ramen shop! Come on Kisho! Let's go eat!"

But, before they could move another inch, a grand bald eagle swooped down with a piece scroll in his claws. The group looked at one another and raced off to the hotel they were staying at, where it was less public.

* * *

Sakura brushed her freshly dyed black bangs out of her masked faced. The stubborn strands of hair bounced back to its original state, separate then those that were held back with a hair tie. She sighed in annoyance as they ran through the leafy forest. The once, pink-hair woman looked up at the darken sky and silently prayed that it wouldn't rain. The dye claimed it would wash out after eight washings, but it was cheap, so who knew?

Sounds of metal clashing against each other could be heard now. They were getting closer to their destination. Neji signalled for them to take out their weapons and prepare for attack. Sakura reached behind her to grab the handle of her sword and pulled it out from its scabbard. Her blade gleamed in the darkness, threatening anything that'll get close to it. Sakura drew it close to her as she slowly creped towards the fighting.

She peered down at the scene below. Blood was spewed on the dusty ground. Random bodies were scattered around the remaining fighting group, still gasping for breath. They needed help fast, Sakura had to get down there and help them. The enemies were still fighting with Sakura's fellow ANBU comrades.

'_They know we're here.'_

They watched above the trees for a chance to attack. Finally, there was an opening. Neji quickly signalled for them to go down and attack. Sakura jumped off the branch and landed near several injured ANBUs. She propped two older ANBUs, against her shoulder and helped them move away from the scene of the crime. Her team spread out in front of her, standing there in case anyone of the opposing team attacked her. Naruto snuck back to the scene and dragged some more people for Sakura to heal. Sakura was healing them as fast as she can, only nursing serious wounds. The clients were luckily not as injured, and didn't need that much treatment.

Her teammates were already out there fighting when another team of ANBU had arrived; lead by none other by Hatake Kakashi himself. They sat above the trees, watching them. They were waiting for something outrageous to happen. Sakura looked around at the remaining fighters. The enemies were clearly out numbered with the overwhelming number of Konoha shinobis.

There were only two left of them and they were drawing to their own limit. But just then, the hairs at the back of Sakura's neck prickled. Someone was coming, and they were coming at a fast rate. She looked around until she saw blur coming towards them. Sakura jumped out of the shadows and blocked the attackers first attack with the blade of her sword. The sound of the metal blades rang in her ear. His attack came fast and hard; she struggled to keep his attack from slicing through her.

She focused her charka to her gloved hand, and let go a tremendous push at her attacker. Sakura wiped her gloved hand against her black pants. She didn't have much energy to fight after all the healing she had done. She looked up at her attacker for the first time. She blinked back in surprise. She found herself staring right into a pair of swirling red eyes.

They belonged to the last member of the Uchiha clan, Uchiha Sasuke.

* * *

**A/N:** Waves sheepishly

Sorry **AGAIN **for taking forever to come up with these chapters (it's been almost 5 months now). I'll try my best to update again by the end of this month… I'll _try._ Sorry about Kakashi being OOC and Sakura being abnormally strong. But this is fanfiction after all. So I can make them do anything :P Which includes making them jump off a bridge. But seriously, SORRY! Smiles Thank you for the reviews and criticism! They helped me a lot, writing this chapter and future chapters. And of course, special thanks to my beta. Thanks so much! Till next time! (Whenever that'll be) laughs evilly


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